They All Eventually Break
by lilballerette10
Summary: Cas shows Dean the true reason why Sam had said "yes" to Lucifer. Tag to 5.04. Warning: Rated T for some Sammy torture.


**Hey guys! So here's a tag to 5.04. This is one of my theories as to why Sam would ever say yes. Yes I know this is totally out there but meh, it came to my mind so I wrote it lol I also have another theory as to why Sam would say yes and that has to do with protecting Dean of course, but with a bit of a twist. I'll be posting that hopefully sometime this week. So if parts of the beginning and end sound familiar it's because I took it from the show and just added a bit here and there. I also altered a bit of the beginning and end to fit my story. Anywho, hope you enjoy :)**

* * *

Dean was standing there, with Zachariah in his room, telling him that he must say "Yes" to Michael, that he must let Michael kill Lucifer now.

Dean walked past Zachariah. He thought of everything that he had just seen, everything he had just gone through. But if he gave into Zachariah now, half the world would be destroyed. The angels had screwed him before, how could he trust them now, especially Zachariah the mother of all douche bags! There had to be another way…there just had to be!

"Naa," Dean let out waiting for Zachariah to flip.

"Naa? You telling me you haven't learned your lesson?" Zachariah started visibly shaking with anger.

"Oh I learned a lesson alright," Dean started starring defiantly at Zachariah. "Just not the one you wanted to teach!"

"Well I'll just have to teach it again!" yelled Zachariah as he started to approach Dean. "Cuz I gotchu now boy and I'm never letting you…"

That was the last Dean heard before he found himself zapped onto the street.

It took a second for Dean to recognise where he was and then he turned around to find Castiel standing right behind him. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's pretty nice timing Cas," he smiled with gratitude.

"We had an appointment," Cas replied back smiling, well as much as Castiel smiles.

Everytime Dean didn't think he could feel more gratitude toward Cas, he was proved wrong, and he couldn't be happier be more wrong about something. And then he remmebred the Cas in the future, and realized how much he liked this Cas.

"Don't ever change," Dean said as he placed a hand on Cas's shoulder.

Cas smiled with his eyes, appreciating that Dean appreciated him.

"How did Zachariah find you?"

Dean shook his head.

"Long story…let's just stay away from Jehovah witnesses from now on okay?"

Cas nodded his head. Dean closed his eyes as he looked up to the sky and took a deep breath of fresh air to try and clear his mind. The silence was soon interrupted by Cas's voice.

"Dean, what Zachariah showed you was not the whole story."

"What are you talking about Cas?" Dean asked opening his eyes and snapping his attention to Cas.

"There was much more, much more that would explain a lot, Zachariah just wished not to show you."

Dean looked at Cas curiously.

"Such as…?"

"Let me show you," Cas reached over and put his two fingers against Dean's forehead.

Dean saw Cas's fingers headed to his forhead, and the next thing he knew he was standing, with Cas, inside some basement, a little dizzy from the teleporting.

"Seriously you Angels need to stop that! Or at least ask permission first so I can prepare myself!" Dean looked irritably at Cas.

"Sorry," Cas apologized, although to anyone who didn't know Cas the apology would've seemed insincere what with the perma neutral face he had on, but Dean knew he meant it, besides it was impossible to be mad at Cas, he just…well it was Cas.

"So where exactly are we?" Dean asked looking around.

"Looks like a room, I think it is what you humans call a basement?"

Dean turned and glared at Cas.

"Gee, thank you for that enlightening revelation! I meant what the hell are we doing here!"

"Oh…you will see." Cas turned his attention away from Dean to the door.

Dean just shook his head, he had truly never…ever….met anyone, or thing, like Cas before.

All of a sudden the door that Cas was starring at opened and someone was thrown into the room. As the door shut the person on the floor curled in on themselves.

_Sammy_

Dean immediately noticed the lanky figure of his baby brother.

"Sam," Dean breathed out. Just as he was about to leap to his brother's aid Cas grabbed his arm.

"He can't see you Dean, this is 2 years into the future but he can't see you, we're invisible."

"Then why the hell are we here!" Dean demanded. What the hell was the point in showing him this if he couldn't help Sam.

"Because," Cas started as he walked up and knelt beside Sam's curled form. "I needed to show you why you're brother said "yes".

Dean immediately got a bad feeling in his gut.

"This is what Zachariah left out on purpose, it wouldn't have served his agenda well to have shown you this."

"Shown me what exactly?" Dean asked a little scared to get his answer.

Cas got up and started to walk towards Dean.

"You will not like what you see Dean. You are being warned."

Dean scoffed. "Well thanks for the reassurance Cas"

"Oh and Dean," Cas started as he turned to look at Dean.

"Yea?"

"I'm going to zap you now," Cas replied informatively.

If Dean wasn't so worried about seeing Sam curled in a ball he would've laughed at how well Cas actually listened.

********

Dean and Cas were zapped into some sort of alley way.

"Okayyy, what are we…" Dean started but stopped when he saw Sam walking towards him.

All of a sudden he saw Sam look up at him and freeze on the spot.

"Uhhh…can he see us?" Dean asked a little worried that Cas's invisibility stint had gone south.

"No," replied Cas. "He's looking at what's behind us, or rather who"

Dean immediately snapped his neck around to see what it was that had Sam frozen on the spot.

There were 3 hunters that Dean had never seen before standing there with rifles.

Dean saw Sam immediately turn to walk the other way and freeze when 3 other hunters covered that exit. Sam was trapped, there was no where to go.

_What the hell…_

All of a sudden Dean was transported to another room where Sam was tied to chair, bleeding from his mouth and a gash on his forehead.

Before Dean could ask, Cas answered.

"They found out what he had done, that he had set Lucifer free."

Panic started to rise in Dean as he remembered the last hunter that was after Sam and how close he had come to killing Sam.

All of a sudden the doors opened and four hunters walked in. One of the men took a glass of water and threw it at Sam.

Dean saw Sam's eyes immediately shoot awake.

"Well looky who decided to wake up from their slumber"

Dean could tell that Sam look disoriented. _Concussion_

"Who are you?" Sam asked.

"We are hunters, unlike you," replied one of the hunters as he punched Sam.

Dean flinched as he saw Sam's neck immediately snap back with the force of the hit.

Sam shook his head trying to clear it.

"You see Sammy boy, a little birdy…well actually a little demon….told us what you did"

Dean could immediately see the fear in Sam's eyes, but he did a pretty good job of acting nonchalant about it.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sam replied trying to hold up the front.

That deserved him another hard punch to the face.

"Really Sam, just give it up, everyone knows…hell that's the whole reason your brother ditched you right? Cuz you turned evil on him?"

Dean's head snapped up to the hunter's voice. He wanted to ring the assholes neck.

"Oh what, nothing to say to that Sammy?"

"Stop calling him Sammy," Dean mumbled angrily.

"He can't hear you Dean," Cas informed him.

Cas receive another deathly glare from Dean for that statement. Dean's attention was immediately drawn back to the situation in front of him.

"Please…I don't want any trouble." The vulnerability in Sam's voice hit Dean like a ton of bricks.

"Well maybe…just maybe…you should've thought of that before you let the devil free!"

With that the hunter took his gun and used the butt of it to knock Sam out.

*****

Dean was then immediately transported to another room where Sam was hanging from the rafters with his wrists tied to the rafters above his head. Dean could see that Sam's shirt had been ripped off and two of those same hunters were behind him with whips.

"Son of a bitch," Dean breathed out as he was horrified at what he was about to witness.

"You a demon Sammy, huh? You a demon just like the devil?" taunted one hunter as he whipped Sam twice.

Sam let out a little groan when the whip connected with his back. Dean could tell that Sam was trying not to let out a scream, his eyes were pinched shut and his eyebrows were burrowed.

Dean looked on, horrified at the torture being inflicted on his little brother.

"You did it on purpose didn't you, you let him out on purpose!" Another whip and Dean flinched as he heard the whip connect with his brother's back. Sam let out a little whimper this time.

"No," Sam answered breathlessly.

"Liar!"

And with that both hunters started to whip Sam. This time Sam actually screamed out.

"CAS DO SOMETHING!" yelled Dean.

"Dean, you know I can't," Cas replied sympathetically as he looked into Dean's horrified eyes.

All of a sudden they were transported into the same basement they were in initially. Sam was laying on the ground shirtless with his hands tied behind his back. Dean's eyes went wide as he took in the lacerations on Sam's back from the whippings he had endured. Sam was still conscious but he was keeping his eyes shut because of the pain. Dean could see the lines on his forehead. He knelt down beside Sam, with tears in his eyes, when the doors swung open again and in walked four of the hunters.

Each hunter had a different weapon in their hand.

Dean felt the bile rise in his throat as he was all too aware of what was about to happen. The hunters didn't even say anything before they started in on Sam.

"Which one of us should go first huh Sammy?"

Dean saw Sam open the slits of his eyes. The fear he saw in there broke his heart. Sam was all alone…because of him…because he was too proud to take Sam back, because he had thought they were better off apart.

"I think I'll let Tommy here go first," the same hunter smirked.

Tommy stepped up to Sam and booted him in the mid section. Sam groaned as he tried to curl in on himself. The other hunters came and grabbed him and hauled him up.

"Work your magic Tommy," the other hunter smirked.

Dean saw Tommy walk up to Sam. He took his weapon and placed it around Sam's finger, and he pulled, and pulled, and Sam screamed and screamed….until it popped.

Tommy then proceeded to do that to two of Sam's other fingers.

Dean immediately took his eyes away from what he was seeing, he couldn't do this, he couldn't watch them torture Sammy, but he could still hear the screams. Dean's breathing picked up and he was sure he was going to pass out.

And then Sam stopped screaming.

Dean's head reluctantly went up. Sam was still conscious as the next hunter took his position in front of Sam.

Dean looked on horrified as he saw what the hunter had in his hand…a hammer.

The hunters moved Sam over to a table. They grabbed his hand and placed it on the table. With that, the hunter took his hammer and smashed it down on Sam's hand.

Sam's scream filled the room. Dean's legs started to shake and had to grab on to a table that was beside him to help him not fall over.

The hunters then kept Sam held up as the hammer connected with his knee this time. Sam's screams filled the room once again, followed by a sob.

"P-please…s-s-stop…s-st-op," Sam could barely put words together.

Dean's heart broke at the utter desperation and pain in Sam's voice.

The hunter started to laugh as he raised his hammer and….

Dean suddenly found himself in an entirely different room. He had tears in his eyes as he looked at Cas.

"You saw enough of that," replied Cas straight forwardly.

Dean nodded his head in gratitude. He didn't think he could've taken anymore of…

Before he could finish his thoughts the door to this specific room opened. Dean saw his brother dragged into the room and strapped onto some table. Sam was still conscious, but barely.

The hunter then rolled in a cart. Dean looked at the cart and his heart stopped when he realized what they were going to do to Sam…they were going to give him electroshock therapy.

"Oh god…" Dean really did throw up this time.

Dean then gathered himself together and looked at Cas.

"Cas…I don't wanna see this…I can't," Dean couldn't even finish his sentence as he looked at Sam.

"I am sorry Dean, I truly am…but you must see this," he looked apologetically at Dean.

Dean saw them attach the electrodes onto Sam, and he also so the shattered look in Sam's eyes, right before they turned the machine on. Sam let out a piercing scream. And then they did it again, and he let out another piercing scream, this time though at the end of the scream Dean heard what came out of Sam's mouth, and his heart shattered into a million pieces.

"Dean..." It was a weak, breathless, almost inaudible cry for help, but everyone in the room, including Dean, heard it.

One of the hunters began to laugh.

"He's not going to come to your rescue this time Sammy boy. You can cry for him as much as you want, _he _left you remember!" He taunted Sam.

"You knew your brother wouldn't save you didn't you?" asked another one of the hunters as he approached Sam.

Dean's eyes immediately shot to the hunter.

"You were hoping, somewhere deep down inside of you, that your brother still cared right? That he wanted you alive?" the hunter then began to laugh.

Dean looked at Sam and saw the tears in Sam's eyes.

"Boy were you wrong! We've had you for 4 months! He hasn't even come looking for you once!" the hunter gloated.

Dean snapped his head towards Cas.

"They…they had him for 4 months?" Dean asked almost begging Cas to tell him it was a lie.

"They had him for longer Dean, we are only at four months right now," Cas replied reluctantly as he looked back at the situation in front of them.

Dean felt like his entire world just came crashing down. They had Sam for over four months…tortured him, and did god knows what else…and Sam had called for him, called for his big brother to help him…and he was no where in sight.

_Oh god_

Dean's legs couldn't hold him up anymore as he slid to the ground, his back against the wall. Even from this angle he could see everything.

"Your brother hates you Sam, just like the rest of us. You're nothing but filth to him, an evil in need of being destroyed!"

_Don't listen to them Sammy, don't you listen to them!_

"Even if he knew what we've been doing to you, you know he wouldn't care, hell he'd probably applaud us."

_You son of a bitch!!!_

Dean looked up and it broke his heart to see the resignation in Sam's eyes as a tear streamed down Sam's face. Sam believed them…he believed…

_And who's fault is that Dean! Dean berated himself. You shut him out when he needed you the most!_

The next few minutes were a blur for Dean. He remembered seeing Sam's body go into shock as they shocked him over, and over, and over, he remembered Sam's heart piercing screams, he remembered seeing more tears fall down Sam's cheek and he remembered seeing Sam's body go lax after every shock.

After about the sixth shock Dean couldn't take it anymore. The tears he had been holding back flowed out as he put his head in his hands. He didn't want to be here, he didn't want to see his baby brother being tortured like this.

All of a sudden everything was quiet. Dean was almost too scared to look up, but he finally did. Dean realized that they were back, back in that basement where they were at the beginning of all of this. Sam had just been thrown into the room and was in a fetal position on the ground.

Dean walked up to him again and knelt beside his little brother. He placed his hand on Sam's shoulder. He knew Sam couldn't feel it but he just needed to be near him right now.

All of a sudden Dean heard a loud crash outside the room and then…silence.

Just as Dean stood up, the door swung open and in walked…Lucifer.

Dean didn't know how he knew, but he knew it was Lucifer. His breathing started to pick up, the damn devil was right in front of him, and he could do nothing about it. He saw Lucifer walking towards Sam and instinct took over as he stepped in front of Sam. Lucifer walked right through him.

"Dean…you're invisible remember," Cas reminded him.

Dean turned around and walked to the other side of Sam as he saw Lucifer kneeling beside his brother.

"Hey Sam," Lucifer smiled.

Dean looked at Lucifer and could've sworn that looked like a sad smile.

"Look what they have done to you," Lucifer said shaking his head. "Do you see what I mean Sam, humans…humans are despicable creatures. Look at what they do to their own kind!"

Dean hated the fact that he really had no come back for that comment, Lucifer was right.

"I told you you would be better off, Sam you don't deserve this."

_Right again_

"Samuel," he started as he looked Sam in the eyes. "I can take all this away, all the pain you feel, take you away from here where they can never hurt you again. You have endured too much, eight months of being tortured by these indecent humans! Let me take away that pain Samuel…all you have to do is say yes."

Dean's heart stopped when he realized what he was witnessing. This was it…this was when Sam was going to say yes…this was when Sam allows Lucifer to take control of his body.

Dean walked to the other side so that he was face to face with Sam, so that he could see Sam's eyes, maybe will him to resist, and somehow…somehow stop him.

And that's when he saw it. That's when he saw Sam's eyes.

They were so empty…so hollow, and yet, there were tears coming down his face. He could see that Sam's soul had been ripped to shreds, everything Sam was was destroyed by these hunters. Sam was broken…

Dean saw more tears fall from his brother's face as he said the dreaded three letter word.

"Yes." Sam's whisper was barely audible, but it was all the Devil needed.

Dean let his own tears fall as he was engulfed by a bright light.

******

All of a sudden Dean heard the honk of a truck, and as he opened his eyes he realized they were back where they had started, on the side of the highway.

Dean wiped the tears and tried to compose himself as best as he could as he stood up.

Castiel was standing right in front of him.

"I am sorry you had to see that Dean, it must have been painful," replied Cas.

Dean would've shot him another deathly glare if he hadn't seen the sincerity in Cas's remark.

"I wanted to show you what Zachariah did not."

Dean looked away as he tried to deal with everything he just saw.

"They broke your brother Dean, those hunters, they ripped his soul. Mentally, physically…what I showed you wasn't even the worst of it."

Dean eyes shot up to Castiel. How the hell could it have been worse than that! Dean decided not to ask that question out loud because he really didn't want to know.

"Eight months…" Dean couldn't find the words.

"Yes…he was completely alone, in the hands of those…animals…and you know better than anyone that you humans are not built to take that kind of pain and torture, eventually you all break."

Dean looked at Cas and saw no judgement there, only understanding.

Cas was right, Dean knew better than anyone what torture could do to a person.

"How could I have done that to him…left him alone…how could I have let them just do that to him…" Dean stated as more of a conviction than a question as tears stung his eyes again.

"It's not too late to change that Dean"

Dean took a deep breath and looked at Cas.

"You damn right it's not," he replied as he pulled out his phone to call Sam.

**************

Dean leaned against his car as he waited for Sam to arrive. He hadn't been able to sleep at all last night since he had talked to Sam. Hearing his brother's voice…Dean couldn't describe how good that felt.

As Dean waited for Sam he realized that his heart was beating so fast, after everything he had witnessed the night before, he just wanted to see his little brother in one piece.

He heard Sam's car roll up and he saw Sam get out. Dean let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding as he saw Sam's tall frame, all in one piece.

As they walked towards each other Dean noticed that Sam was looking more at the ground than at him.

_Cuz you told him you were better off alone idiot!_

The brother's came to a standstill in front of eachother.

Dean was the fist to speak.

"Sam," he said with a shaky voice.

Sam looked at him with uncertainty and it broke Dean's heart. In an instant everything he had seen the night before flashed before him, Sam being tortured, Sam's screams…Sam calling out to Dean.

Dean looked up at Sam and, chick flick moment be damned, he grabbed Sam into a hug.

Sam didn't know how to react, a hug was definitely not what he had expected…he wasn't exactly sure what he had expected, but a hug definitely was not it.

Dean could sense Sam's uncertainty and held onto his brother tighter until Sam finally got the hint and returned the hug with just as much vigour.

Finally they pulled apart.

"Dean…"

Dean stopped Sam before he could continue as he pulled out Ruby's knife.

He saw Sam flinch and take an ever so slight step back. Dean stopped pointing the knife at Sam and flipped it around to hand Sam the handle.

"If you're serious, and you want back in, you should hang onto this, I'm sure you're rusty."

Sam looked at Dean with a sparkle in his eye that Dean hadn't seen in a long time.

Sam slowly moved his hand forward to grab the knife.

"Look man I'm sorry," Dean started as he saw that Sam was avoiding eye contact. "I dunno, whatever I need to be but I was uh…wrong," he finished as he looked up at Sam.

Sam took a deep breath, an apology was definitely not what he had expected.

"What made you change your mind?" Sam questioned genuinely curious.

Dean looked at the ground and scoffed.

"Long story…the point is…maybe we are each other's Achilles' heal, and maybe they'll find a way to use us against each other, I don't know. I just know we're all we got," he said as he looked at his little brother.

Sam just stood their absorbing all this in. This is all he had wanted since he had set Lucifer free, he knew he didn't deserve it, he knew he didn't deserve Dean's forgiveness, but Dean was giving it anyway, and it was taking a lot to keep his emotions in. He knew nothing could ever be the same, and he wasn't asking for that...he just wanted his big brother back.

"More than that," Dean continued as he thought about how the future Dean acted, how he hadn't even bothered looking for Sam, how he hadn't even bothered finding out why Sam had said "yes", how he purposely sent his friends into an ambush. "We keep each other human," he said as he looked up at Sam and saw the understanding in Sam's eyes. They both needed each other to prevent the future that was set out for them.

"Thank you," Sam started as he looked as his brother. "Really, thank you. I won't let you down" And Sam meant it, with every fibre in his body, he meant it.

"Oh I know it," Dean half smiled at Sam. "And you are the second best hunter in the world."

Sam smiled at Dean's attempt to lighten the mood a bit.

Sam took a deep breath, "So what do we do now?"

It had been awhile since Sam had looked to Dean for guidance, but he needed it now, if only for this moment, he needed his big brother to tell him what to do.

"We make our own future," Dean said with determination.

Sam nodded.

"Guess we have no choice," Sam stated with just as much determination.

Dean took a good look at his little brother, his Sammy….not Lucifer….but his Sammy. He wasn't doing this out of some sense of obligation to protect the only remaining member of his family, he was doing this because Sam was his everything, Sam had always been his everything. He needed Sam just as much as Sam needed him, and last night more than proved that. They were brothers...through thick and thin they were brothers; they kept each other grounded, they kept eachother safe, and most importantly, they gave eachother a reason to live, fight, and love...and Dean wouldn't change that for the world.

_No Sammy, we have no choice, because I can't lose you again…I won't._

**THE END!!**


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